Events

Whiskey Myers

More Info

It would be an understatement to say that a lot has happened since Whiskey Myers waslast in the recording studio. Over two whirlwind years, the gritty Texas band hit #1 onthe iTunes Country Chart with their breakout third album 'Early Morning Shakes,'earned raves everywhere from Rolling Stone to USA Today, and toured the US and UKrelentlessly, slaying massive festival crowds and sharing stages with Lynyrd Skynyrd,Hank Williams Jr., Jamey Johnson, and more along the way. You'd be forgiven, then,for expecting things to work a little differently this time around when the bandreunited with acclaimed producer Dave Cobb for their stellar new album, 'Mud.' But asit turns out, success doesn't change a Southern gentleman, and they don't come anymore Southern than Whiskey Myers.Fueled by larger-than-life performances honed tight from countless nights on the road,'Mud' finds the band scaling new heights of songwriting and musicianship, with searingguitars, soulful vocals, and indelible hooks. While their approach to the music andhumble, hard-working attitudes may not have altered, there have been developmentsin the Whiskey Myers world, most notably with the arrival of new faces. For therecording sessions, the band's five founding membersCody Cannon on lead vocals andguitar, Cody Tate and John Jeffers on guitars, Gary Brown on bass, and Jeff Hogg ondrumsfleshed out their sound with the addition of fiddler/keyboard player JonKnudson and percussionist Tony Kent, who are both now full-time members."They bring a great energy, and I think it's really helped our sound and makes the bandmore versatile," explains Cannon. "There's less room onstage now, but sometimes afamily grows."A glance through Whiskey Myers' lyrics will show you that Cannon is a man who chooseshis words carefully, so it's little surprise that he describes the band as a family. Thetight-knit group's roots stretch back decades into the red dirt of East Texas, whereCannon, Jeffers, and Tate first began playing together before rounding out their initiallineup with the addition Hogg and Brown (who is Cannon's actual cousin). They built upa rabid local following on the strength of their 2008 debut album, 'Road Of Life,' andthen notched their first #1 on the Texas Music Charts with their 2011 follow-up'Firewater.' It was 'Early Morning Shakes,' though, that introduced the rest of the worldto what Texas already knew. The album cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard CountryChart, a remarkable feat for a fiercely independent band and a testament to theirrigorous DIY work ethic and endless supply of passion and drive. Esquire called them"the real damn deal," while Country Weekly said they combine "greasy Southern rockriffs with countrified songwriting and Texas grit for something wholly unique," andPlayboy dubbed them "the new bad boys of country music."Even in the face of their rapidly-growing profile and expanding lineup, the band foundthey were able to pick up exactly where they left off when they returned to the studiofor 'Mud.'

$15.00 - $25.00

Whiskey Myers:
Whiskey Myers makes honest music.

Loud and proud, they sing about what they know with a refreshing directness and clarity. Some call it rebel music, but it’s more like everyday soul. Their songs are stories, with characters and situations that are immediately relatable. Stories of celebration, mourning, trials and triumph. Through the quality of these songs, and their undeniable power in concert and on record, the band has attracted a devoted army of outspoken fans who pack venues, sing the band’s praises online and continue to make Whiskey Myers a growing word-of-mouth sensation.

Whiskey Myers’ most recent full-length album, Firewater, was released on their own Wiggy Thump imprint in the spring of 2011. It continues to sell steadily, enjoying a remarkable run on the Texas Music Charts that culminated with its third single “Anna Marie” reaching #1. All over their home state, they are commanding larger and larger crowds, selling out 1,000-capacity venues with ease and delivering stadiumsized shows grounded in the sincerity and unpretentious, fun-loving energy of their bar-band roots. “Our fans always tell us how much they get out of seeing us play,” says lead singer Cody Cannon, “ but it’s a two-way street; we get something, too. They inspire us to dedicate ourselves more and more to our music and our sound. And it sure feels like it’s paying off.”

As their chemistry onstage and in the studio reflect, Whiskey Myers is a brotherhood. The five members cut their teeth together, honing their chops side-by-side from an early age. Hailing from the Palestine, Texas area, Cannon was given an acoustic guitar by his “wild-ass biker” (Cody’s words) grandpa, and guitarist John Jeffers’s dad taught them both the rudiments of the instrument. A job at a sporting goods store introduced Cannon to future Whiskey Myers lead guitarist Cody Tate, forming the songwriting core of the band. Upon moving to Tyler, Texas, they picked up drummer Jeff Hogg and enlisted Cannon’s cousin Gary Brown on bass—even though he’d never played the instrument before.

What came next was a blur of gigs, songs, struggles, and victories. With each show, their natural bond as friends continued to grow into a formidable musical telepathy and with each song they composed, their innate gifts as craftsmen were honed further. The resultant sound, so perfectly crystallized on Firewater, is hard-driving and immediate, steeped in the rich legacy of southern rock. Often reduced to a onedimensional stereotype, the kind of music that inspired Whiskey Myers—artists like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, and Hank Williams, Jr.—is actually multifaceted and inventive, drawing from country, R&B, psychedelic rock, and string band traditions.

In that tradition, Whiskey Myers are grand southern eclectics, pulling in an array of influences and seamlessly mingling them. Listeners can pick up traces of everything from grunge to rockabilly in the course of a set, united by Cannon’s soulfully heartfelt singing and Brown and Hogg’s solid, supple foundation. On top of it all, Tate and Jeffers intertwine their leads, soaring in harmony one moment, darting around one another in intricate improvisations the next. Sure, they’re rousing—just cue up “Bar, Guitar, and a Honky Tonk Crowd” or “Turn It Up” for a dose of pile-driver intensity. But they’re range is wide and expanding to encompass touching pleas like “Broken Window Serenade” and the acoustic stomp of “Anna Marie.”

In Whiskey Myers’ world, nothing is off-limits. Nothing is too personal, too sensitive, or too controversial to embrace and explore. Theirs is a confidence born of a long-standing brotherhood—a closeness that few groups can rival. “Well we all grew up together,” bassist Brown explains. “We’re two sets of cousins. Some of us have been friends since we were two or three years old.”

Cannon picks up the thread immediately, adding “Plus, after six years touring in a van together, you know each other through and through. We know who we are, and try our best to stay true to ourselves and to our music.”